YouTube is the second largest search engine on the web. It’s a behemoth. The go-to video destination. And it’s only getting bigger.

Influencers, social authorities, and brands are using the platform to build their clout while driving a variety of different goals. Everything from generating revenue to building awareness and loyalty can be achieved with content on YouTube.

There are literally hundreds of ideas that brands can implement to get started creating YouTube videos today. But before you can do anything, however, you need to understand your goals for using the video portal.

In an effort to help your company leverage the incredible power that the platform has to offer, here is your beginners guide to YouTube.

First, let’s start off with some basics.

The “About” Section

Aside from the content itself, this is the most important part of your channel.

Here you will describe to visitors who you are, who your company is, or what your channel is all about; you could even do all three if you feel called.

Additionally, this is your opportunity to drive increased traffic to your other social profiles by linking to each. Be sure to include your or your brand’s email address and website as well.

A great way to kick off a new YouTube channel is simply by introducing yourself, your company, and what it is that your brand does. In this video you can address all of the baseline questions you would expect from someone who stumbles across your channel.

In a similar vein, you could introduce the channel itself. Discuss what kind of content people can expect to find with each new upload.

Vlog It Up!

One hugely popular type of video on YouTube is vlogs, or video blogs. These essentially serve to detail the daily happenings of the video creator. These types of videos are ideal for helping to build a personal brand. For example, Gary Vaynerchuk uploads daily vlogs to provide his viewers with guidance, inspiration, and insights into his world.

Challenge Folks

Challenge videos are all the rage right now. This has been seen time and time again with the ice bucket challenge, the cinnamon challenge, the running man challenge, and countless others. This is likely to fair best if it is attached to a noble cause.

Tech Tips

If your brand resides in the world of technology, unboxing and review videos could be a big hit for your channel. Despite the fact that both of these video concepts are older, they are still wildly popular and generate millions of views each week. It could also be beneficial to show off how your brand’s product compares to others on the market.

LOLs

If your brand is one that doesn’t take itself too seriously, parody videos could be a great way to gain some quick attention. This gives you a great opportunity to show off your brand’s personality.

Take a look at some of YouTube’s trending videos and capitalize on the hype before it fizzles out.

How-To’s

How-to videos will likely never go out of style. People largely use search engines to find answers to matters that are problematic. And since video content is currently exploding, how-to videos are massively popular.

This is one of best ways to provide value to consumers. Take the information that you have acquired on your journey to help people advance in their careers, learn new skills, better manage their time, or just resolve some common issues that pop up in day-to-day life.

Just creating content and throwing it on YouTube isn’t enough. There are a couple more steps you will need to take to help your videos gain traction.

Video SEO

In order for people to find your video, you’ll need to incorporate various keywords that relate to the content. Firstly, if you are doing a vlog, how-to, or similar video, include those exact words in the description and title.

Be sure to leverage tools like the Google Keyword Planner to help identify words that people would search to find content similar to yours.

Sharing is Caring

Your video might gain a good bit of traffic through organic discovery on YouTube, but for optimal results share it across every social channel your brand inhabits. Also, be sure to include a relevant hashtag to boost its discoverability.

YouTube is an incredibly powerful tool for influencers and brands alike. If you really want your brand to excel in 2017, it’s time to hop of the video trend and create some truly valuable content.

Need help getting your YouTube channel off the ground? Let us know and we can show you how to generate some serious video buzz.